The SGPC executive claims to have met at an undisclosed place and adopted some resolutions. The resolutions run true to form, one of them claiming that the SGPC is answerable only to the Sikh community and not to the government, and another condemning the recent ordinance banning the use of religious places for political purposes as “a conspiracy to weaken the Panthic strength and its independent existence by separating Sikh religion from politics”. Both propositions are absurd. The SGPC cannot possibly deny that it owes its very existence to a legislative enactment, that any body constituted under an Act of a legislature must function under it and that its adherence or non-adherence to the provisions of the relevant law can be a subject of judicial and/or executive inquiry and action. Since the government can, if it so desires, dissolve the SGPC, the answerability of the latter to the former is self-evident. Similarly, it is extraordinary for anyone to claim that Sikh religion cannot be separated from politics and yet insist on rights under the existing Indian political-constitutional arrangements which rest on such a separation. Moreover, the Sikhs themselves maintain two organisations, the SGPC to look after the gurdwaras and the Akali Dal to look after their economic and political interests. And surely no Sikh can claim that all Sikhs vote for the Akali Dal. The issue is not of a general principle; it centres on the use of the gurdwaras for political purposes. This abuse has gone on for decades and could have gone on if the terrorists had not forced the government’s hands. But having finally responded to the challenge, the government cannot now go back. Indeed, it must follow the ordinance in question with another suitably amending the gurdwaras Act.
It is not at all clear what the SGPC executive is seeking to achieve by these provocative statements. Perhaps it is trying to cover up its shame resulting from its own admission of its “past weaknesses”, a euphemism for its surrender to the terrorists. Perhaps it is trying to retain the support of its constituents who must feel deeply embarrassed by disclosures of torture and murders within the Golden Temple complex and blame the SGPC for their humiliation in their own eyes and in those of other fellow Indians. But it is also possible that it is trying to provoke the authorities. If this is indeed the case, the government must refuse to be provoked. It should quietly ignore the SGPC as it pursues the tasks it has set for itself – destroy the terrorists and ensure that they can never again use the gurdwaras for their dastardly activities. Big words, as the saying goes, break no bones.